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Nov 26 Shattering Pinterest Envy - Nutrition

[Continuing on with the Pinterest Envy series...]
There's nothing to see here folks. Move it along.

This post is difficult for me to write.

I know nutrition. I know healthy food. I know fats, carbs, vitamins, and nutrients. I have a personal relationship with vegetables.

But I wasn't feeding those things to my kid. Or, at least, he wasn't eating them.

When Nasko first came home, we bought all kinds of food that he was used to eating in the orphanage. We bought things like eggs and bananas and plums and fresh bread. We served him fish and kielbasa and milk.

And he refused to eat all of it.

Nasko went through a phase where he would not eat anything that had previously been served to him in the orphanage.

We couldn't let our newly adopted son starve, so we began giving him very filling snacks. I remember a time where he'd sit and eat three Nutrigrain bars in one sitting.

Then somehow fruit bars evolved into donuts. And Ramen noodles (or as he calls them, "hair noodles"). And Kit Kats (I blame his father for those...)

Those foods took care of breakfast and lunch almost everyday.

Most days, I'd try to make and serve something of nutritious value to complement the Ramen and the chocolate-covered donuts, but Nasko would hold off for the next meal.

And why wouldn't he?!

"Here, honey. Have a brussels sprout or two with your plastic-coated noodles and salt-filled flavoring."

Yeah, he wasn't buying it.

Dinners have always been well-rounded here – meat, vegetable, fruit and grain. But, they're only helping if you're digesting... Nasko would refuse to eat them, and then ask for more Ramen a half-hour later. Well, our poor kid must be starving, so we'd give him the noodles. Wouldn't want him to waste away!

So, there it is. We were failing in nutrition.

A couple months ago, Chance and I began discussing what to do when it was time to begin feeding Louis solids. I mentioned wanting to do baby-led weaning (not so much purées - child just eats what you are eating). I think I said, "We'll feed him just like we... feed... Nasko... Hmm."

And at that point, we started reevaluating how we fed Nasko. We subscribed to The Fresh 20 and we have limited both the donut and the Ramen intake to two per week. We've been more intentional about feeding Nasko a healthier breakfast (Chance is in charge of cooking those!) and not offering a "second supper" when he doesn't like the prepared option.

Our son's nutrition plan won't end up on anyone's "healthy eating" Pinterest board, but hopefully it will turn around soon.